Just a Ribbon
by Your Undying Fan
Summary: [Short Oneshot]In Count Olaf's house, if you can call it that, even the smallest of comforts seems to be taken away. But it seems only natural that the three orphans can change that.


**Disclaimer**

_I do not in any way own either the book or the movie "A Series of Unfortunate Events"_

**Just a Ribbon**

_One Unfortunate Event_

She was wrong, and telling that to her expectant little brother was possibly the hardest thing she had ever done. If it wasn't the hardest, then it was somewhere near the top of her all to large list of 'hard things to do.' She looked at him a moment longer, lips parted slightly, before finally speaking.

"Not this time." The look on his face, another thing to add, after she said it made it all the harder to say what followed: "Go."

If telling him had been hard, then watching him actually listen and act on it was torturous. She had to physically restrain herself from following him by grabbing the desk next to her. Tears slid silently down her cheeks, causing her make-up to run, which produced an angry grunt from the girl next to her, who proceeded to grab her face and re-apply.

How extremely. . .unfortunate that she would find herself in this position. Who would have guessed that Violet Baudelaire would be forcefully marrying her, and apparently her parent's, mortal enemy? Certainly not Violet herself.

She looked at her surroundings, noting the little insignificant things that she could later use to make something. If anything, the Count's house was full of useless things that would turn out to be not so useless by her hand. Violet could invent, and that would be her sole comfort, that and knowing her siblings had gotten out, that is.

She fiddled with the ribbon hanging off the back of her 'wedding dress' before pulling it off gently. The ends were slightly frayed, but it didn't bother her at all. In this case, actually, it comforted her. It was, in fact, _her_ ribbon, not just any ribbon, but _hers._ Count Olaf couldn't change that.

The smile that had found its way to her lips was gone in an instant when she found herself wrapped up by long, bony arms. The accompanying hands encircled hers, halting her examination of the old ribbon. Violet found it harder to breath as she turned her head slightly in an attempt to get a better look at the Count. Shivers of fear and disgust ran down her spine in a never-ending assault.

She felt the ribbon, _her ribbon_, slide through her fingers as he pulled it away. She barely suppressed a whimper as he held it in front of her face, leaning in so that his lips nearly brushed her ear.

"You won't be needing this anymore." With those words he was gone. A lone tear ran down her cheek, not even enough to smear the make-up, but a tear nonetheless. Wiping it away, she looked at the man who had entered the room upon Count Olaf's exit, not willing to follow him down the isle, but ready.

-----

She was smiling. Oh how good it felt to smile. Honestly, how long had it been? She was with Dr. Montgomery, if her memory served her right. She would have found it odd, had she not been through so many odd things the past few months, that just twenty minutes ago she was crying, mourning over lost siblings and the fact that she would soon by a Countess.

She smiled at her brother, who was standing in the tower, holding a giggling Sunny. He had done it, and she was so proud of him. Perhaps there _was_ always something, she just hadn't seen it until then; nevertheless, it didn't matter anymore, he had found it.

But to Violet, however, there was still something missing. She gave her brother one last joyful glance before walking offstage into Count Olaf's private dressing room. What followed was a frantic search, which, unnatural as it may seem, turned out successful. Lying discarded on the floor was a tattered blue ribbon that was much more than a ribbon to Violet Baudelaire.

She picked it up almost gently, as if it would unravel if she handled it to roughly. A new smile, one that actually reached her eyes, played across her face as she looped it, once more, on the back of her dress. There, now she was complete.

-----

**A/N-**_ Ok, this is new territory, really. This is actually based on the movie, seeing as though I have not read the books as of yet, but I will, mark my words. Anyway, I had trouble writing this one, it was out of the usual after all, so please review, constructively criticize, point, anything. . .in short. . .just please review?_


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